there would be no sex scenes in this installment anyway. The character in question would be a little more… lewd than the other ROs for the parent, though. Granted, the character already is a little more… less respecting of personal space (boundaries are a different topic).

Also, progress notes: Currently having a migraine, but working on the bonus (gonna try and have the introduction to battles in next update) and the first act of ch2.

I’m currently massively stuck with the battle system.
I have ideas, but my head is blanking when I try to put them into code. Do you have any ideas how to do what I want this to do:

What I want:

I want to have tough battles feel tough. Meaning that it should feel different fighting against e.g. Switchblade than it’d feel fighting against Odium’s Crawlers (as dangerous as they are)

I also don’t want the battle to last too long, which is my main problem right now

Neither do I want them to feel ridiculous because a rookie can take on someone like Switchblade.

My main issue is how to achieve this. I initially tried a system that would make a roll to see if using one’s powers succeed and then calculate damage. While the mechanic worked, the battles lasted ages, because while everyone has similar chances of success/fail, the current strength didn’t leave much of a scratch when everyone has 100+ livepoints.

I could go and change the fortitude to a lower number (which would be x + def) and go from there, but when fighting against a tougher enemy it might be that the player goes down in one hit then.

I don’t want to go with the 3 strikes out method, as that would have a similar effects in terms of suspension of disbelief.

Would you be opposed to using plain stat checks as opposed to dice rolls? Maybe for more variety, 3 stat check variations (failure, medium success, high success) instead of 2 (failure, success)?

I think plain stat checks rely more on the stats itself rather than randomness, so if you pick a choice which relies on a stat you’re proficient in, you can somewhat sure of how successfull it’s going to be. With dice rolls there’s always some uncertainty.

Also maybe bonus damage if you pass two high success checks in a row, sort of like a combo?

Though that system is probably only more usefull if the battles are drawn out due to the possibility of having one bad dice roll after another and as such dealing minimum damage, making the battle last longer.

I just read through your post again and saw that this wasn’t the problem. I think. If I understood correctly. I’ll still leave it there.

I’m also not familiar with the “3 strikes out” method, but I have this foreboding feeling it might be what I’m describing here? If that’s the case just igonre me haha orz.

For a different feeling in tougher vs easier battles, maybe just adjust the damage output generally. Like the same attack does 20 damage against an easy enemy and 10 damage against a tougher one. The same for the damage an enemy does to you.

And I think a lot of variation on how a battle feels can be added by the text itself.

Like if you fail a defense check against a weak enemy that’s 10 damage, that’s not too bad and the text can describe how you almost shrug it of. Same for attacks. Attack “A” knocks them out/kills them instantly.

If you fail a defense check against a strong opponent, that’s 20, maybe 30 damage, and the flavor text can describe how you have trouble getting to your feet again. For Attacks, maybe attack “A” barely even fazes a strong enemy.

Even successful defense checks: Against a weak enemy, you block their attack easily. Against a strong one, not so much, maybe you even still take damage.

Ah but that’s enough of me rambling. I don’t even know if I’m making sense anymore orz. I’m also pretty sure I let my bias against dice rolls shine trough. Others may be perfectly fine with it.

Also I’ve never written a battle scene so I have no idea and all my advice may turn out to be garbage. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ian is the younger (4 minutes 42 seconds) of two twins. He’s quite a bit of a bookworm, preferring burrowing himself in the library or at home over meeting with people. This does not mean he prefers not to interact with others. He’s at his simultaneously best and worst when he can talk to people and share information. His biggest short-coming is that he can talk very fast and without any form of punctation.

The worst thing one can do to him (especially then) is to either just pretend to have any interest, or to tell him to shut up. Then Ian tends to retreat into himself and become short worded.

He’s kind and usually collected, bit of the embodiment of the idea of a gentle giant. However there are things he despises to speak about, especially The Gloom and his brother Jamie. He can also be rather secretive when he thinks involving others would harm them.

He has a very odd relationship with Heatstroke, speaks fluent german and can’t cook, except for desserts.